Trink Is Back

Well, partially back. Albeit I am not aware if he was ever really gone. But he’s not back with the old Bangkok milieu talk. His former employer the Bangkok Post brings the Trink book review of Harold Stephens‘ For the Love of Siam.

History comes alive with Europeans trying to take over 17th century King Narai’s kingdom. What the legendary Nite Owl has to say about this, the French, Japanese Christians and the king’s Greek foreign minister?

Yes, meet Greek Constantine Phaulkon, “a seafarer whose books of adventure and travel are mainly set in Asia,” writes Trink. “He knows everything worth knowing about his subject. Marginally less about King Narai, the most powerful figure in his life.”

It was back then, after King Narai’s death, that for the first time a xenophobic regime reigned in Siam which expelled almost all foreigners from the kingdom.

Diplomacy & Duplicity – Trink’s review couldn’t be titled more accurately. Sounds like modern Siam.